40TH ANNIVERSARY

In 2018, DYNAMIC celebrates its 40th anniversary. Founded in 1978 in Genoa, Dynamic is one of the affiliated labels of Naxos Music Group and positioned as today’s leading Italian record label for classical music and has also become one of the foremost European producers of operatic DVDs.To mark Dynamic’s anniversary this year, we’re offering a special 40% discount on 40 selected titles throughout September to November 2018.

This new production of Carmen marks the debut in opera direction of award-winning Art Director and Macerata native Dante Ferretti. Amongst his achievements are nine nominations and two Academy awards (Best Achievement in Art Direction 2007, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; 2004, The Aviator)

Eschewing the glamour and extravagance of Hollywood, Ferretti here has devised a minimalist set drawing from Francoist Spain during the 1930s-40s. A touch of Italian Neorealism is also clearly recognizable.

"The most relevant element on stage must be the emotional reaction stirred by the story . . . What strikes most about the Sferisterio stage is the emptiness that leaves room for imagination" Ferretti

Bottesini is remembered mainly as a double-bass virtuoso and conductor, but he was also a composer; apart from several works for the double-bass he also wrote seven operas. The best known, Ero e Leandro, was recorded at the Teatro San Domenico, Crema, in 2009 and Dynamic is delighted to present its world première recording on DVD.

The opera has only three characters: the priestess of Venus, Ero, Leandro of Abìdo and the perfidious Ariofarne, high magistrate of Thrace and King of the Sacrifices. The Greek myth of two beautiful humans whose love causes the envy of the gods has been changed by librettist Arrigo Boito, who creates the character of a mean king who opposes their relationship.

The score, stylistically comparable to the late Verdi, certainly reveals unusual attention to orchestration and uses a richly chromatic language, not without influences of the Wagnerian style that was then catching on in Italy too. It stands as a worthy addition to Italian opera repertoire of the second half of the nineteenth century.

Il matrimonio Segreto (DVD)
Recorded at Opera Royal de Wallonie, Liège, Feb. 2008.

Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto was a popular example of opera buffa in its day and one of the most successful operas of the eighteenth century.

The libretto for the opera was based on the 1766 English comedy ‘The Clandestine Marriage’ by David Garrick and George Colman.

This comic opera tells the story of Geronimo, a wealthy citizen of Bologna, who is trying to arrange aristocratic marriages for his two daughters, Carolina and Elisetta. What he doesn’t know is that his youngest daughter Carolina is already secretly married to Paolino, his young secretary. Through a series of humorous situations the young couple confess their marriage and all ends well.

Jackie O (DVD)
WORLD PREMIERE on DVD of 1997 opera which focuses on the dramatic turning point in the life of Jackie Kennedy Onassis in the 1960s after the death of JFK. Sung in English

Jackie O combines “high” opera, popular theatre and classical themes in a colourful exploration of the protagonists life post-JFK, based on a reversal of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice with a swinging 60s twist.

Includes interviews with Daugherty, Mc Andrew, Sourouzian and Alberghini

“Daugherty may just provide the link to pop culture that classical music so desperately needs.” Time Out, New York, 1997

This new Dynamic opera, Elisir d’amore was performed in Donizetti’s native city of Bergamo, during the most important world festival dedicated to the Italian composer. The opera is set in a rural environment and the action takes place in a country farm. It is a brilliant comedy with many points of contact with semi-serious operas. The choice of this subject must have been strongly influenced by the successes of Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula.

The opera is performed by a talented cast. Dulcamara is interpreted by young and talented bass Alex Esposito, who makes his debut here in the theatre of his native city. In 2006 he was awarded the Abbiati Prize as best opera singer of the season. Dulcamara steals the show thanks to Esposito’s dynamism and charismatic interpretation, adding to the opera a touch of freshness and modernity.

Conductor De Marchi used the original performance as his inspiration, altering the dynamics, highlighting aspects that are usually neglected and accompanying the recitatives with the cello or double bass rather than the piano or harpsichord, enhancing the theatrical aspect of the text.

The music is folksy and the melodic writing frank and straightforward with a broad variety of passages of high technical content and more elegiac in character; such is the case of the most famous piece in the whole opera, the aria Una furtiva lagrima, which is also the leitmotiv of the soundtrack of the 2005 film Match Point, directed by Woody Allen.

This is the world première recording of Baldassarre Galuppi's little known opera L'Inimico della Donna (The Enemy of Women). Staged by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera this production took place in February 2011 at the Opera de Wallonie, Liège.

Alongside a host of expert soloists, the renowned Italian early music specialist Rinaldo Alessandrini conducts the Opera Royal de Wallonie Orchestra. Alessandrini is regarded as a foremost interpreter of early Italian opera and has won many prestigious awards for his previous recordings on other labels.

L'Alidoro (DVD)
WORLD PREMIERE in modern times of an unknown comic opera which was recently rediscovered along with other three other Leo operas at the Abbey of Montecassino.

L’Alidoro (Golden Wings) is a lost-and-found story which explores the themes of love and jealousy from different perspectives – in particular age and social status – interweaving comedy with more serious reflections.

Director Arturo Cirillo explains how in this opera, “nothing is happening except a subtle and gorgeous relational game among the seven protagonists”

L'Arbore di Diana (DVD)
L’arbore di Diana (The Tree of Diana), which was staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2009, is a two-act opera buffa by the composer Vicent Martín i Soler with a libretto by the famous Lorenzo Da Ponte.

The opera focuses on the temptation and joy of falling in love. Though the plot includes features borrowed from the pastorale and erotic comedy, it also had political intentions and endorsed the abolition of convents and monasteries decreed by the emperor.

The director Francisco Negrín has produced a colourful and modern staging.

“What a beautiful tree!... Martin y Soler’s piece turns out to be a happy discovery, especially thanks to such an imaginative director as Francisco Negrin....” Opera Magazine

Signor Goldoni (DVD)
A WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Venetian playwright and librettist Carlo Goldini.

Melega’s libretto is written in English, a language which offers greater opportunity for plays on words and whose rhythmic nature better suits Mosca’s music.

The opera incorporates Shakespearean tragedies and comedies set in the Veneto, namely Othello, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Shakespeare himself appears as a character in the opera, along with characters from Goldini’s plays and Mozart’s Despina.

One of the very few contemporary operas being staged in Italy, signaling something of a revival of the operatic world.

Orchestra, Chorus and Corps de Ballet of the Sofia Opera / Konstantin Chudovski

Boris Godunov was performed for the first time in the open air in front of St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia in 2014. This spectacular production, performed 90 years after the cathedral’s consecration, was conceived by Plamen Kartaloff, the director of Sofia Opera and dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff and the 85th anniversary of the birth of Nicolai Ghiaurov. Both artists were world-renowned for their interpretations of the role of Boris. In this production, the role is sung by the great Bulgarian bass Martin Tsonev.

Tom Jones (DVD)
Of Scottish origin, the Danican family (Philidor being a nickname) produced, in almost two centuries, a dozen musicians - instrumentalists and composers - the best known of them almost certainly being François-André Danican Philidor, born in Dreux on 7th September 1726 and died in London on 31st August 1795. Tom Jones is universally considered one of Philidor’s best operas and one of the most perfect examples of a music genre that was quite popular in 18th-century France, the Opéra-comique. The libretto is derived from Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones, a foundling, while the music, with its succession of dialogues, airs, ariettes, and ensembles is truly delightful, embodying the elegant and caustic spirit of the Age of Enlightenment.

On the podium of this Tom Jones, staged at Lausanne’s Opéra in the summer of 2005, is one of the greatest specialists of French 17th-18th- century music, Jean-Claude Malgoire, who thus continues his collaboration with Dynamic, which already counts several prestigious titles both on CD and DVD.

I Shardana
When we examine the score of I Shardana by Ennio Porrino, we easily understand what a central role this opera played in the artistic development of the composer. The rst drafts of it date from 1934-35, but the work only debuted years later, on 21st March 1959, at the San Carlo theatre in Naples, with its nal title of I Shardana and Porrino himself conducting. The composer would die suddenly a few months later. Porrino's drama mirrors a period in archaeology when Nuragic Sardinia was discussed even in non-specialist circles, with the island's bronze statuettes and megaliths recalling a primeval society at the origins of European civilization. Hutalabì, indeed, is the ancient war cry of Sardinian horsemen, and the opera speaks of times when as Porrino species in the score shepherds were warriors and judges, "when man did not believe in one God but in the power of the stars, and worshipped the dead and the waters". I Shardana, therefore, is set in a free Sardinia, an island where rigorous rules are in force and its people do not tolerate invasions or spiritual contamination.

This 2010 production of La Cenerentola, recorded at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, is set in modern times. On the rather empty, bare stage there are a few elements which stand out: the colourful costumes, the two giant chandeliers and the 1970's kitchen. Quoting the director's own words, "the emptiness of the stage leaves room for creativity as the characters keep on changing and disguising their true identity. I have stuck to Rossini's original notes while neglecting all the legends linked to the character of Cinderella".

This modern production directed by Claudio Abbado's son Daniele Abbado, features the acclaimed Maxim Mironov, considered by critics as one of the most interesting Rossini tenors of his generation. Cenerentola (Cinderella) is performed by José Maria Lo Monaco, also a renowned Rossini specialist. The Orchestra & Chorus Fondazione Petruzzelli, Bari is conducted by Evelino Pido.

L'Equivoco stravagante (DVD)
L’Equivoco stravagante (the curious misunderstanding) was Rossini’s first attempt at writing a two act opera.

The plot is based around three characters; Ermanno, Ernestina and Buralicchio. Ermanno, who’s young and poor, loves Ernestina the daughter of Gamberotto, a wealthy farmer. However, Ernestina and her father have their eyes on Buralicchio, a young upstart who has more money than sense. To get his competition out of the way, Ermanno and a few servants hatch a plot to convince Buralicchio that Ernestina is actually a castrato, and worse, an army deserter. Ernestina is arrested, but eventually freed by Ermanno whom she then marries.

The opera is set in the seventies and features an international cast including opera stars Marco Vinco and Bruno de Simone.

Falstaff, the lyric comedy was Giuseppe Verdi's last opera. It is an operatic favourite, long admired by critics and opera goers alike because of its brilliant orchestration, scintillating libretto and refined melodies.

This production from 2009, recorded at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium was staged by Stefano Poda and features the well known Italian Bass Ruggero Raimondi as the title-role.

Macbeth
This score undoubtedly marks an important turning point in Verdi's operatic writing, because it brings to the foreground the characters introspective, psychological aspect, which would be the fundamental feature of most of the maestro s later creations. This DVD recording documents the production staged at Novara s Teatro Coccia during the 2013-2014 season, with Dario Argento tackling for the fi rst time the direction of an opera. Verdi s masterpiece was not new to the director from Rome, who had used it as backdrop for his 1987 fi lm Opera, set at the Teatro Regio in Parma, indeed during a staging of Macbeth. From the master of thriller and horror one could only expect a direction in line with his previous film-making background, and from that point of view, this Macbeth does not fail expectations, with its bloody, indeed gory scenes; they are, at any rate, consistent with the dark and brutal character of Shakespeare's tragedy. But aside from all of that, Dario Argento's direction reveals extraordinarily theatrical qualities, greatly enhanced by the conducting of Giuseppe Sabbatini who, on the podium, takes tempos that befit to perfection the unrolling of the drama.

Il Farnace
Il Farnace is the most re-written and re-proposed of Vivaldi's operas, it's like a beloved child who worries his father, and to whom the parent always wants to give the best. Versions of Farnace, two in 1727 and one each in 1730, 1731 and 1732, had been conceived and adapted to the different circumstances for Venice, Prague, Pavia and Mantua, always with a cast to Vivaldi's satisfaction and with the composer in control of the production.The greatest appreciation of Vivaldi's operatic music was expressed in a letter by a spectator of the 1727 Carnival season, the abbot Antonio Conti. He wrote to Madame de Caylus that of all the operas of the Venice season he liked best Farnace because its music was very varied, "between the sublime and the tender", and because Vivaldi's pupil worked wonders.In 1738, for the Ferrara Carnival season, Vivaldi wrote a new score of the opera. This is the last Farnace, in two acts, as the third was lost.

Parsifal (3 DVD)
Parsifal, Wagner’s last opera, was premièred in Bayreuth in 1882. In the fifty years of his artistic life Wagner did not only mature and outline more and more clearly the aesthetic ideals that formed the intellectual substratum of his composing activity but definitely upset the course of the history of music and of the music theatre. The wide range of his cultural interests, his operational daring, ability to blend elements of different origin, complete rejection of any form of operatic routine and grandiosity of conception make of each and every opera that he wrote a sort of artistic case in its own, where the experiences of previous works are salvaged or abandoned according to the expressive needs, which are never subordinate to contingent necessities. Performing this complex work is no simple task, but the cast on stage at Teatro La Fenice in Venice did so with flying colours. Available also in CD.

Teatro alla Scala Golden Years Vol. 1
Milan's La Scala theatre as told by the protagonists of its golden years, interviewed by the renowned Italian journalist Enzo Biagi. A series originally produced on 16mm film, now restored and offered to the public at large by Accasfilm.

Teatro alla Scala Golden Years Vol. 2
And on it goes in the docu-marathon around the "golden years" of La Scala. Big hitters imagery for opera fans can be seen: the young Riccardo Muti and the legendary director Giorgio Strehler are seen in the rehearsals for Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro", Renata Tebaldi is a long, unabridged interview, as the then very young Luciana Savignano, which Ballet fans also get their money. The footage has been recorded on 16mm film, even then in 16: 9 cinema screen format and is great historical appeal.

Teatro alla Scala Golden Years III
Milan's La Scala theatre as told by the protagonists of its golden years, interviewed by the renowned Italian journalist Enzo Biagi. Originally produced on 16mm film, now restored.

The 1988 Tokyo Recital (DVD)
Dynamic are proud to present this amazing historical document of Berman’s 1988 Tokyo concert, broadcast by the Japanese television, NHK and is available for the first time on DVD.

The program of this Lazar Berman recital recorded in Tokyo in 1988 collects some of the artist’s most authoritative performances. Schumann’s Sonata in F-sharp minor, op. 11, was one of Berman’s most often-programmed works. It was frequently paired with important works of other composers or, as in this case, with a selection of Liszt pieces.

In op.11, we find a deeply lyrical approach from the very opening of the first movement. Even with his students, Berman emphasized that the piano should “sing” in these passages, rather than merely reproduce the notes on the page. In connection with Schumann, he also stressed to his students that each level of the polyphonic texture should be presented with the proper separation, with the melodic beauty of each individual voice allowed to emerge – aspects that are executed to perfection in the performance on this DVD.

The Liszt pieces in this recital also allow Berman to present the expressive side of the music, in addition to an astonishing virtuosity. The fantasy Après une lecture de Dante, one of Berman’s warhorses, is performed with generous scope, with particular emphasis on the three principal themes that Liszt would later elaborate in his B-minor Sonata.

Manon
Jules Massenet’s five act opera-comique is presented on this new release by Patrick Davin and his Orchestra of the Opera Royal de Wallonie-Liege. + Manon is Massenet’s most performed opera, which has maintained its spot in the repertoire since its composition. The enduring opera “quickly conquered the world’s stages.” + Annick Massis stars in the title role. The French soprano has enjoyed a long stage career, frequently performing in Mozart’s operas and many bel canto roles.

L'Americano can be seen to parody the likes of Voltaire and Rousseau by replacing the cutting criticism Voltaire makes of society's slavery to a corrupt French court, with a more light hearted criticism of society's slavery to fashion.

I Shardana
I Shardana is set in a free Sardinia, an island where rigorous rules are in force and its people do not tolerate invasions or spiritual contamination, a time when - as Ennio Porrino (b. 1910) specifies in the score - shepherds were warriors and judges, "when man did not believe in one God but in the power of the stars, and worshipped the dead and the waters". The opera's first drafts date from 1934-35, but the work only debuted years later, on 21st March 1959, at the San Carlo theatre in Naples, with its final title of I Shardana and Porrino himself conducting. The composer would die suddenly a few months later.

Dating from the mid-19th century, Crispino e la Comare (Crispino and the Fairy) was composed by the Neapolitan brothers Luigi and Federico Ricci. It's one of the last examples of Italian traditional opera buffa and quickly gained in popularity. Between 1854 and 1871 it was performed literally all over the world - in Constantinople, Barcelona, Malta, London, Cádiz, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, New York, Warsaw, New Orleans, Mexico City, Liège, Brussels, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Santiago de Chile, Baden Baden, Berlin, Calcutta and Melbourne.

The title character enjoys one of the great bass roles of 19th-century opera buffa, demanding equal skills in acting and singing, and captured here by Domenico Colaianni's magnificent performance.

Giovanna d'Arco
Giovanna d’Arco, Verdi’s seventh opera, was premièred at La Scala in Milan on 15th February, 1845. It was written between the composition of I Due Foscari (November 1844) and Alzira (August 1845), a period when Verdi was already enjoying popularity as a recognised heir to Bellini and Donizetti. After the success of Nabucco, which had launched him on the Italian operatic scene, the Venetian triumph of Ernani cemented Verdi’s reputation as a composer of international stature, both at home and abroad.

The composition of Giovanna d’Arco is not clearly documented in Verdi’s letters, but what we do know is that he wrote it in just four months, using a libretto by Temistocle Solera based on Friedrich Schiller’s five-act romantic tragedy Die Jungfrau von Orléans.

Giovanna d’Arco contains a wealth of beautiful music that displays Verdi’s infallible theatrical sense and perfect dramatic timing, both hallmarks of his style.

A rarely performed opera by Giuseppe Verdi, filmed at the Martina Franca Opera Festival, with Jessica Pratt outstanding in the role of Giovanna and Riccardo Frizza on the podium.

This CD features the most important piano works that Duke Ellington (1899 – 1974) wrote between 1913 and 1973. While remaining close to the original manuscripts, the performances are fresh and inventive, meeting the challenge of balancing faithfulness to the written score with the interpreter’s own inspiration and creativeness.

The pieces on the programme trace Ellington’s stylistic development in all its variety.

Luigi Palombi brings added value to the recording with his intellectual curiosity and experience in a wide range of musical settings, from chamber to orchestral, with the Jazz Discovery Ensemble.

A contemporary of Schumann, Stephen Heller was a Hungarian pianist and composer. He wrote numerous works, including collections of studies, that possess enormous didactic value and demonstrate a rare lyricism. His catalogue comprises 158 opus numbers, almost all of which are piano works, plus several unnumbered pieces. Emulating Schumann, one of Heller's works is titled Kinderszenen, which is presented here alongside the world première recording of his Notenbuch für Klein und Gross, Op. 138. With these two collections, written in a remarkably sensitive and evocative style, Heller takes us back to the world of childhood.

Works for Organ
Giuseppe Manzino (Savona, Italy 23rd September 1929 - 4th July 1992) was one of the more interesting of late 20th-century Italian organ composers. Manzino was a versatile composer: he taught, gave concerts and composed, and in the latter capacity he won international prizes. His works have been performed in Italy and many other European countries, as well as in Japan, the USA and Latin America.Manzino's language neither introduces novelties nor breaks with the past, but proves that the knowledge of past styles and historic continuity represent, even today, an inexhaustible source from which to draw.The instrument used for this recording, the monumental organ of Genoa's Immaculate Conception Basilica, fitted in 1890 by English organ maker William George Trice and expanded at the beginning of the 1900s by the Balbiani firm, has done justice to the orchestral quality of the ampler works' writing, at the same time ensuring a wide variety of colours in the shorter ones, in which the beauty and variety of the 8' Fondi can be fully appreciated.After graduating in Organ and Organ Composition from the Conservatory of Genoa, Luisella Ginanni furthered her studies with renowned teachers such as L.F. Tagliavini, M. Torrent, H. Vogel, P. Kee, G Schneider, J. Langlais and X. Darasse, studying in depth the different aspects of organ performance. Moreover, she widened her musical training by studying Harpsichord under the guidance of G Gentili-Verona, K Gilbert and S Ross.She teaches Theory, Rhythm, Music Perception, Analysis and Organ Practice at the Conservatory of Genoa. She is appointed organist at the Immaculate Conception Basilica in Genoa.Davide Merello graduated in Organ and Organ Composition, and in Harpsichord under the guidance, respectively, of Emilio Traverso and Barbara Petrucci. Later he also earned a diploma in Baroque Organ with Lorenzo Ghielmi at Milan's 'Civica Scuola di Musica'. A first prize and award winner in many international competitions, he has performed all over Europe and in South America as a soloist as well as in chamber and orchestral ensembles.

Studies in the Form of Suites
An unexpected polyphony: that is, above all, what impressed the people who were lucky enough to listen to Fernando Sor playing the guitar. Not a mere chordal accompaniment, or a bare melody: his guitar was not only virtuosic; in his hands it turned into "un instrument d'armonie", according to the opinion of the «Revue Musicale» (Paris, 1833-34).To compose studies, works for someone who is learning an instrument, is to show a student a path, along which an initially alien and unknown environment can be transformed into a landscape that is individually meaningful. At the same time, to compose studies is also a way to convey the distinctive traits of one's personal music thought. And that is where Sor's studies seem different from others: in finding this form, his personal touch takes not the shape of a set of commands but of a graceful parable, which, in the small space of a few measures, can tell a story and at the same time incorporate the rule without pedantry.Sor composed six collections of studies, for a total of 121 Studies, published during the twenty years of his artistic maturity: from age 37 to 59, or from 1815 to 1837.The Studies follow a tonal sequence, that is to say they are organized in cycles defined by their key (hence the title "Studies in the form of Suites"), meant to show that contained forms can give origin to more ample musical paths, able to shed new light on the single pieces.In order to recreate the original timbre of these pieces, the guitar used for this recording is an original instrument made by the Rovetta Brothers in 1817, perfectly preserved. It is characterised by a gorgeous floral wooden decoration in relief at each side of the bridge. The purfling around the soundboard, the rosette, and the final part of the figerboard are inlayed with a series of ivory triangles. Back and sides are in curly maple. The neck, slim and elegant, is made from pear wood stained black.

Complete Works for Piano Solo, Vol. 2
This new release is the second volume of the complete solo piano works of Richard Strauss. + The pieces selected for this second volume were composed during the composer’s childhood and adolescence, which makes them even more admirable as we see Strauss’s progressing talent. + Most of the works featured on this album are world premiere recordings. + Performing these works is pianist Dario Bonuccelli.

Amarilli Nizza defined Verdi as her "best friend". And it is truly so, because although she owes a lot to Puccini - her "first great love" -, her international career took flight with Verdi.

She came on the scene as a lyrical soprano, but with time and thanks to her solid technique and a wise choice of repertoire, she has developed dramatic accents and nuances and has become a true Verdi heroine.

The Italian soprano Amarilli Nizza was born in Milan and grew up in a musical family as the fourth generation of professional singers. As a child, she studied piano before voice studies with her grandmother Claudia Biadi, who has been her most formative teacher. In 1993, while still very young, she won the "Mattia Battistini" competition and had her debut as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" at Rieti's Flavio Vespasiano theatre.

Her agile voice and solid technique, together with fine acting skills, have granted her access to the most important venues and International Festivals, among them the Wiener Staatsoper, Fondazione Arena di Verona, Teatro del Maggio musicale Fiorentino, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Berlin's Deutsche Opera, Moscow's Kremlin Palace, Tokyo's New National Theatre and Bunka Kaikan.

Italian Operatic Overtures, Vol. 2 - The Early 19t
Dynamic presents the second volume of a series of three releases dedicated to Overtures and Symphonies spanning three centuries of Italian opera. The first volume was dedicated to the eighteenth century, while this second features the early nineteenth century. The great popularity of Italian Opera in European courts and theatres transformed this music genre, which had first appeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century as a court entertainment, into a product of wide international circulation, universally loved. In the wake of its success, other European nations developed a local operatic tradition but Italian opera kept a predominant role in Europe throughout the entire 19th century. That being the case, it was natural for foreign composers to want to study in Italy where they sometimes remained indefinitely, becoming, for all intents and purposes, composers of Italian opera. Two such composers were Mayr and Arrieta, who join in this program, their most important Italian colleagues of that period: Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini.

Italian Operatic Overtures, Vol. 1
Dynamic proudly presents a series of three CDs dedicated to Overtures and Symphonies spanning three centuries of Italian opera. This first volume focuses on the 18th century, and features some real rarities: from Vivaldi (Bajazet and Catone in Utica) to the great Neapolitan school – Traetta, Leo, Paisiello and Vinci – plus Salieri, Sacchini and Sammartini. The programme is performed by specialists in this repertoire, including Federico Maria Sardelli, Antonio Florio, Jean-Claude Malgoire and Giuliano Carella.